Ye Ting was adding meat sauce to his fried noodles when Anthony Goldstein nudged him and whispered in his ear, "Hey, genius, did you hear? They three went exploring that forbidden corridor on the fourth floor last night. They're so daring. When should we sneak a peek too?"
Before Ye Ting could respond, Hermione interrupted from the side, "I heard that, Anthony! How could you encourage him to do such a thing? It'll get us all points deducted from the House."
"Oh, Hermione, can you please not be so disappointing?" Terry Boot sighed beside her, somewhat helpless.
They all agreed that Hermione was great in every way except for being too serious and nosey.
"Exactly, genius, please keep your 'little girlfriend' in check." Michael Corner added, egging him on.
"I'm not his little girlfriend!" Hermione blushed in anger, but her voice was small, and her eyes wandered uncertainly over Ye Ting, clearly lacking confidence.
"Come on, Hermione, it's just a discussion. Don't take it so seriously," Ye Ting said, putting down his fork and soothing the girl by stroking her thick, long hair. He had become very skilled at this action.
Hermione immediately shut up, which surprised Ye Ting—since the accident during Flying Class, this had happened several times, and each time Ye Ting could easily calm her down.
But before then, Hermione would argue with him for a while until Ye Ting silenced her with his words.
On the other side, Cho Chang smoothly changed the topic: "Does anyone know what's in that corridor? I heard many senior students have secretly gone in to explore, but they never tell me what they found."
"There's a three-headed dog there." replied Penelope, who was sitting opposite Ye Ting.
She was now part of their small group, often spending time with Ye Ting, Hermione, and Cho Chang.
"I tried to sneak into that corridor for an adventure before, but I was stopped by a three-headed dog. The big dog was much taller than me, baring its teeth and looking terrifying. Although it sleeps most of the time, one head is always awake. By the way, I found a trapdoor on the floor where the three-headed dog was lying. I think the secret is in that trapdoor."
Then, she lowered her voice and whispered, "I heard that during the summer vacation, Dumbledore gathered Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, Snape, Quirrell, and Hagrid to set up a challenge game there. Each of them designed a challenge."
"Is that true? Why would they do that?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"I guess there must be something in there that they don't want anyone to get," Cho Chang said confidently. "Otherwise, they wouldn't go to such great lengths to block people with challenges."
"I think so too."
"Me too."
The others agreed.
But Ye Ting, as a time-traveler, had a different opinion.
"I think it's a deliberate trap set by Professor Dumbledore," he said, then explained, "If Professor Dumbledore wanted to hide something, he could easily hide it in a place only he knows.
"However, Professor Dumbledore chose to put it in that corridor and clearly told everyone it was forbidden. That's obviously telling others: There's a secret here. And the news that Professor Dumbledore invited the professors to set up challenges has spread, further supporting this conclusion: Professor Dumbledore doesn't really want to hide that secret. He might even want everyone to know what's hidden there."
"The purpose of the challenges is to screen. Ordinary students can't pass them. Only those with ability can pass the challenges and discover what he's hidden, which is his goal."
At this point, he deliberately paused. Around him, the three girls and his dormmates looked at him with anticipation and agreement. So, he continued.
"I think these challenges might be Professor Dumbledore's test for us, hoping that students can pass these challenges as a practical assessment."
"Another possibility is that these challenges are used to catch a thief. This thief wants to steal from Dumbledore, so the professor set traps with these challenges and put the item the thief wants to steal as bait in the trap. The thief will probably think these challenges are just Dumbledore's anti-theft measures. In fact, the challenges are just a disguise. The ultimate goal is to attract the thief's attention and convince the thief that the item he wants to steal is hidden there—everyone believes that the more precious something is, the better it is protected. If the thief really enters the challenges, he's been tricked because Dumbledore wants to lure him out."
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